Caring for Creation – An Ecumenical Approach to the Environmental Crisis - Hardcover

Oelschlaeger, Max

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300058179 ISBN 13: 9780300058178

Publisher: Yale University Press, 1994

Synopsis

Many environmentalists believe that religion has been a major contributor to our ecological crisis, for Judeo-Christians have been taught that they have dominion over the earth and so do not consider themselves part of a biotic community. In this book a philosopher of environmental ethics acknowledges that religion may contribute to environmental problems but argues that religion can also play an important role in solving these problems - that religion can provide an ethical context that will help people to become sensitive to the environment and to elect leaders who are genuinely responsive to the ecological crisis.
Examining a broad range of Western religious traditions - from conservative Christianity and orthodox Judaism to Goddess feminism and nature religion - Max Oelschlager provides a sociolinguistic analysis of their creation stories and finds environmentally positive aspects in each of them. He asserts that religious discourse in the public arena can offer a way for such environmental issues as biodiversity, pollution, and population to be addressed outside the realm of special-interest politics. And he urges local churches to make "caring for creation" a theme for worship in their services; the majority of Americans, says Oelschlager, will discover an environmental ethic only through their religious faith.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This timely book argues that religion has an indispensable role to play in solving the ecological crisis. Examining a broad range of Western religious traditions from conservative Christianity to Goddess feminism, Max Oelschlaeger shows that religion can provide an ethical context that will help people become sensitive to the environment and elect leaders who are genuinely responsive to environmental problems.

Synopsis

This work argues that religion - blamed for contributing to the ecological crisis - provides an ethical context that will help solve the problem. The approach suggests that the environmentally positive aspects in various Western creation stories demonstrate religion's conservation potential.

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300058179
• ISBN 13: 9780300058178
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 296